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I’d like you to work with me.”
    She had to be kidding. “No. No way.” He worked alone.
    “Here’s my plan.” She widened her stance, completely ignoring his rejection. “I was supposed to follow Maxwell on his two-week adventure vacation. I’ll just tell the manager of the adventure vacation company that I’ll be following you, instead.”
    He couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Not a chance in hell. I’m here to have fun and unwind. I don’t want to have a TV camera up my butt all day.”
    Her face remained a blank shield.
    His blood pressure hitched up. “What makes you think the company will want more attention from the media?”
    She rolled her eyes. “Now that a number of people have ended up dead on one of their vacations,” she explained, “who in their right mind would book a trip with them? We’ll convince the management they need the positive publicity to survive.”
    “ We ?” He was running out of arguments.
    “Yes, we . That will give me the access I need to poke around and investigate.”
    He tried another tactic. “I could have sworn you said you don’t even fly. Sure you’re up for F-16s, cave diving, and swimming with sharks?” She seemed way too skittish and high-strung to handle this kind of jacked-up adventure.
    She paled for a second, but that chin went up again. “I’m hoping George can do all that stuff. He loves diving and flying. Lives for this kind of life-risking craziness. And it’ll give me more time for investigating.”
    He pushed out a long breath. “What part of hell no don’t you get?” But he knew a losing battle when he was in the middle of one.
    “I don’t really expect you to help me, just give me a cover.”
    He groaned in a blast of disbelief. The irony of this situation was not lost on him. If he wanted to remain undercover for real, he had to provide her with a pretend cover. The woman did have balls, he had to admit. He forced a smile. “And if I don’t go along with your plan?”
    “I walk right over to my detective friend and tell him my suspicions.” She stared boldly his way, hands on hips, legs slightly apart. “I’ll tell him that Maxwell was killed and you know all about it. That you’re here investigating the other suspicious deaths. I don’t know what agency you’re working for, but Stuart could find out in less than ten minutes, and I imagine you don’t want to blow your cover just yet. Am I right?”
    His jaw dropped. “Blackmail? Really? Do you know the penalty for that if I really am a cop?”
    She snorted. “Extortion, actually. Well?”
    He snapped his jaw shut. He knew very well what would happen if the adventure vacation company knew his real identity, and what his bosses would do if they found out he was still investigating this case after they’d specifically pulled him off it.
    Wow. She had him. He was impressed, and a little turned on.
    He ground his teeth. He would agree to her plan, only because he had no choice. He was determined to find and nail the son of a bitch who had killed his uncle.
    “All right, fine,” he reluctantly said.
    She might lose her job if she didn’t come back with her investigative story. But he would definitely lose his job if she exposed his undercover activities and his family’s private life on the news. So he would have to keep the nosy reporter under his thumb and under his control.
    One way or another.

Chapter Four
    Sam and George caught up with the X-Force Adventure Vacation Company in Peacock Springs State Park—250 acres of wilderness in Florida’s Panhandle. Two of the “accidents” had occurred in this very park.
    After driving all night, they’d made camp shortly after sunrise. Now, in mid-afternoon, the sun’s heat poured through the openings in the treetops’ canopy. The air hung heavy, like the leaves on the live oak and silver maples surrounding them.
    Sam sat next to Zack on a wooden bench just a few feet from the entrance to the Orange Grove Sink, a mocha-colored